A few weeks ago, I made the choice to buy the Kobo Arc over the Nexus 7 tablet, but suddenly I'm having a bit of buyer's remorse.

Everytime I hear about a really great app that enhances the Android experience, it seems I hit a brick wall because the application isn't compatible with the Kobo Arc. I don't know if this is because the Arc is still using Android Ice Cream Sandwich, or because of the GPS requirements that have been talked about in other threads, but the overall user experience is starting to leave me with a bad aftertaste.

I know that developers can't comment on product releases, and nor should they make promises about delivery that they can't keep. But right now I'm starting to feel like I have a $200 paperweight with limited functionality. I wish I'd known about the Android GPS limitation before purchasing the device. I wish I'd known about the very real limitations between ICS and JellyBean. Had I known, I know I would have made a different choice.

Another thing that's frustrating is that the Canadian Google Play store only accepts Visa/MC. In the US, you can buy Google Play cards or use other credit cards. Even if I were to go to the US and purchase a Google Play card, I couldn't use it in the Canadian store. I know that's more of an Android problem than a Kobo problem, but right now the two are inextricably linked in my mind.

A few weeks ago, I made the choice to buy the Kobo Arc over the Nexus 7 tablet, but suddenly I'm having a bit of buyer's remorse.

Everytime I hear about a really great app that enhances the Android experience, it seems I hit a brick wall because the application isn't compatible with the Kobo Arc. I don't know if this is because the Arc is still using Android Ice Cream Sandwich, or because of the GPS requirements that have been talked about in other threads, but the overall user experience is starting to leave me with a bad aftertaste.

I know that developers can't comment on product releases, and nor should they make promises about delivery that they can't keep. But right now I'm starting to feel like I have a $200 paperweight with limited functionality. I wish I'd known about the Android GPS limitation before purchasing the device. I wish I'd known about the very real limitations between ICS and JellyBean. Had I known, I know I would have made a different choice.

Is anyone else feeling a bit burned by their decision to buy an Arc?

Try using an alternate store like Aptoide to load apps. Some of the apps in the Play Store require gps or some other component the Arc doesn't have or you're not in the correct geographical location (usually the USA) and so won't install. I get the same issues with my Samsung which is a full feature tablet with gps and for which certain apps can't be installed from the store but they actually work fine once on the tablet. There are actually more apps for ICS & older...Jelly Bean is quite recent.
You can get the Aptoide installer from the Play Store and then use the Aptoide site to get the app in question.

I too am having some issues with apps and now realize from Chantal's post that the lack of GPS is the problem. For example, tune-in radio will not load the stations.

BTW, when I search Google Play app on my Arc there is no app for Aptoid but I see Chatty's hyperlink to the website has it. I wonder why that is.

I bought the Arc because I find the iPad too heavy to carry around and wanted to be able to carry one device to read newspapers magazines and ebooks. The arc is not very good with the newspaper and magazines. The screen response for pinching and zooming and page turning on those apps is too "touchy" and I often close the page or shrink it when trying to scroll the page. The Arc makes a great ereader but it' s too small for reading mags and newspaper even though the screen display is very nice. Web surfing is okay for a short time but again, too small a screen for extended use.

@ppowell, my Vox had no gps but I was still able to use TuneIn... Perhaps something has changed? Also, I agree that a 7" tablet isn't great for magazines etc. I have PressReader on my Samsung 10.1 and it's night and day compared to the smaller tablet. Much much better for that type of content.

Chantal
Maybe I am misunderstanding. Tune-in needs Location services turned on but the app does not show up in settings and there seems to be no way to do it. I thought GPS and location services were connected. I have reinstalled but no luck.

I just tried again to download tune-in but now get message app is not compatible with my device. Maybe it needs jellybean.

I have it on my Galaxy Tab which runs Ice Cream Sandwich.. So not having Jelly Bean is not your problem.
Did you try to get it from Aptoide instead of the Play Store? Aptoide does not check permissions on your device, anything can be downloaded. I don't have my Vox any more to check the version that I had on it, but if you really want the app, Aptoide has pretty much all the older versions of TuneIn available and one of them will surely work. You'll just need a little patience while trying them out.

Thanks Chatty and J.D. I downloaded from the link but it is doing the same thing as the first download I tried....stuck on opening a station and goes no further. I have checked my settings but can't find the problem.

If you have your apps on an android phone and you have drop box and es explorer backup the app to es file explorer. Find the app in your backups and long press it. A menu will come up and select share. A choice of locations will come up select drop box. With drop box installed on your arc open it and down load the app apk.that you have saved to your arc. I did this with both ZPlayer (a brilliant music player) and TuneIn Pro both of which are working perfectly. I dare say another file explorer will have the same capability. Search the playstore for file explorers.Hope this helps

I set up a Google+ community for Kobo Arc users with Google+ new community feature. I can access Communities using the G+ app on my iPhone, iPad, and of course, from any browser. When I use the G+ app on the Kobo Arc, the community feature doesn't seem to be enabled.

I thought maybe it was just an ICS issue, but I asked a friend who is using a phone with ICS installed, and he said he can see the community feature just fine.

I went to Google Play to read the page for G+, and it says the most recent version of the G+ app "varies based on device".

Can any of you check to see if you see "Communities" in Google+ on your Arc? Thanks!